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Family Travel Planning

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A lot of planning needs to go into family travel to ensure that everyone enjoys the trip.Â Radio DJ Jo Whiley, Mum to four kids, has some tips for family holidays.

We had twin sons, so we didn’t have the issue of finding a destination suitable for different ages, but it could still be tricky to come up with a holiday that appealed to both kids and parents. Below are my recommendations for family travel planning.

Book Appropriate Accommodation

We took a two weeks holiday to Lanzarote one Easter in a self catering one bed apartment. There were sofas which converted to beds in the living/kitchen area. We slept in the bedroom and our sons in the living room. It didn’t work well in the mornings, as we were always up before them, so disturbed them preparing our breakfast to take out to the balcony. The whole self catering thing wasn’t a great success either, we seemed to spend a lot of the holiday shopping, cooking and washing dishes. It would’ve been much better to only go for one week and pay a supplement for a two bed apartment on half board, with more space and only have to prepare a snack at lunch time.

Look for Somewhere with Activities/Clubs for the Kids

Having on-site activites for your kids is great, especially if they are included in the holiday price. Our sons loved indoor pools with flumes and fun contests like wellie wanging.. Do check out that the dates of operation for the full kids entertainment schedule coincide with the your planned holiday dates. We had some issues with this as the Scottish school holidays weren’t always in high season.

Agree on Some Ground Rules Before Departure

We gave our sons a bit of extra pocket money during holidays but they knew how much that were going to receive so there was no wingeing or tantrums to get more cash. If your kids are old enough to go out on their own, you need to agree at what time they will get back to the accommodation.

Jo Whiley is the ambassador for the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card, which gives you and your family the freedom to travel on your terms, with its flexible rewards programme. For more information visit: www.amex.co.uk/gold.